To get there, I took a bus from my city of Barranquilla to a town called Santa Catalina. The bus took about an hour and I was excited the whole time. When I finally arrived, I saw the mud volcano right away. A whole little section of the town is organized around the volcano because it´s so important to them. I paid 10,000 Colombian pesos to climb up to the top, which is about $3.00 U.S. dollars. After waiting in line, I swam in the mud inside the volcano!
Back in the U.S., I live in Minnesota and there are no volcanos there. I have never seen a regular volcano, let alone a mud volcano, so I was very excited when I learned about the nearby Volcán del Lodo Totumo. I saw the mud for sale on the streets of the city where I live, I saw people selling tours of the volcano, and I heard many people talk about it, so I knew it that this natural feature had an influence on the culture here.
The mud volcano (volcán de lodo, in Spanish) is 50 feet tall. People have built wooden stairs on it to make it easier to climb. The mud inside is unlike anything I´ve ever seen! It´s thick and hot and everyone floats in it! I tried very hard to push myself down, but I floated right back up to the top, like a cork! The mud has properties that heal people´s skin and make them healthy again when they´re sick.
The mud volcano is in Santa Catalina. The local community benefits because people from all over Colombia (and all over the world!) visit their town. Local people bathe in the mud and sell bags of the mud to tourists.
